October 07, 2012 12:20 AM CDTOctober 07, 2012 12:20 AM CDTFraley: What went wrong during Rangers' collapse? Just about everything

Fraley: What went wrong during Rangers' collapse? Just about everything

3/11

Brad Loper/Staff Photographer

Thursday, Sept. 13; 5-4 loss to Cleveland: The Rangers looked poised to sweep the hapless Indians at home, having once again gotten a great start out of Derek Holland, who K’d seven and allowed just two runs over seven innings. The game was tied 2-2 going to the bottom of the 8th, but the Rangers rallied for a pair to take a 4-2 lead into the 9th. Joe Nathan, who had been automatic all season and hadn’t blown a save since April 11, gave up three runs on a pair of homers, and the Rangers let a golden opportunity slip through their fingers.

ARLINGTON — The Rangers have claimed another
ignominious spot in baseball history.

The 2011 club will forever be linked to coming within one strike of winning
the World Series, in Game 6, only to fail.

The 1986 Boston Red Sox are the only other club to suffer that fate. The Red
Sox did not break free of that awful memory and win a World Series until
2004.

The 2012 Rangers will be remembered as the early speed team that seized up at
the finish. The Rangers led the American League West for 178 days in their
181-day season only to finish second to Oakland. No team has been in the lead
longer without finishing first.

“Most of the season, we played pretty good baseball and stayed consistent,”
closer Joe Nathan said Saturday. “We picked about the worst time to get into a
funk. The last couple weeks did not go our way.”

A 10-inning win at Kansas City on Sept. 6 gave the Rangers a 51/2-game lead
in the West with 25 games to play. How did the Rangers go from that commanding
position to an 11-14 finish that forced them into the dangerous wild-card
knockout game, which Baltimore won Friday night?

“To be honest with you, I never thought anything like this would happen,”
manager Ron Washington said.

Here’s why it did. The anatomy of a late-season collapse:

Pitching depth

No team is ever comfortable with its pitching depth. Coming out of spring
training, the Rangers believed they had enough depth to weather a pitching
storm.

That did not happen. Oakland passed the Rangers because of superior pitching
depth.

Season-ending injuries to right-handers Colby Lewis and Neftali Feliz exposed
the Rangers. They were 24-27 in games started by pitchers who did not open the
season in the five-man rotation.

The more pitchers Oakland used, the better the Athletics performed. Oakland
went 46-16 in games started by pitchers who were not in the opening day five-man
rotation. The Athletics were 33-13 after Aug. 15 despite getting only four
starts in that span from their top two starters: right-handers Bartolo Colon
(suspended) and Brandon McCarthy (injured).

In an attempt to plug one hole, the Rangers obtained right-hander Ryan
Dempster from the Chicago Cubs. In the 11-14 finish, the Rangers were 1-3 in
Dempster’s starts.

The Rangers tried to get by with right-hander Scott Feldman and rookie
left-hander Martin Perez as interchangeable fifth starters. In the 11-14 finish,
the Rangers were 0-5 in games started by Feldman or Perez. For the season, the
Rangers were 7-14 in Feldman’s starts.

“The absence of Colby Lewis really showed,” pitching coach Mike Maddux said.
“We tried to fill in that five hole as the year went on. Sometimes it was good.
Sometimes it was not. We do have to re-inventory our rotation and get more
depth.”

Offense

In the elimination-game loss to Baltimore, the Rangers scored one run and
went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position. That was fitting. The offense
flickered and died down the stretch.

For the final four weeks of the regular season, the Rangers ranked 10th in
the American League for batting average at .246 and 11th in runs with 3.96 per
game. They scored three runs or fewer in 11 of the final 25 games and were 3-8
in those games. For the season, the Rangers were 17-45 when they had three runs
or fewer.

The consistent theme for the Rangers at the finish was an inability to get an
important hit. In the final 25 games, the Rangers had the third-lowest average
in the AL with runners in scoring position at .215. The Chicago White Sox, who
gave away a lead in the AL Central, were last at .205.

Good teams respond to pressure. The top four clubs for average with runners
in scoring position in the final month are also the remaining four clubs in the
AL playoffs: Detroit (.302), Baltimore (.298), the New York Yankees (.293) and
Oakland (.288.)

The Rangers did not, or could not, make up for the lack of vital hits by
creating runs. In the stretch run, they rarely tried to apply pressure with the
running game.

In the 11-14 finish, the Rangers had only six steals in 11 tries, with two
runners picked off base. Oakland’s Coco Crisp had more steals than the Rangers
in that span. He was successful in all eight tries.

Ian Kinsler

Leadoff hitter Ian Kinsler turned into the human black hole. The offense
could not escape his negative force at the plate.

Kinsler, swinging from his heels at every turn, batted .200 with a .279
on-base percentage in the 11-14 finish. He ended the season with a .326 on-base
percentage, fifth lowest among the 21 major leaguers who had at least 300
at-bats in the leadoff spot.

Worse than the on-base percentage was an epic failure with runners in scoring
position.

Kinsler was hitless for his last 16 at-bats with runners in scoring position
during the final 25 games. He hit .097 for his final 31 at-bats with runners in
scoring position.

This was a lost season for Kinsler. Future generations will be puzzled to
learn he made the All-Star team this year.

Kinsler led major league second basemen in errors with 18. The errors led to
20 unearned runs.

Kinsler was picked off base six times, second-highest total in the majors
behind Miami’s Jose Reyes with seven. Kinsler had nine caught-stealings in 30
tries. He had nine caught-stealings in 54 tries for 2010 and 2011 combined.

Before the playoff game, general manager Jon Daniels stressed that it would
be unfair to assign blame to a specific player. In April, Daniels worked out a
five-year, $75 million contract extension with Kinsler. It was the Rangers’ way
of saying how vital he is to the club. Kinsler did not respond in
kind.

The bullpen

Manager Ron Washington tried his utmost all season to protect the bullpen.
The relievers worked 457 1/3 innings, fourth-lowest total in the league.

Despite that, the bullpen was worn to a nub in the final month.

In the first 137 games, the Rangers’ bullpen was 19-8 with a 3.19 ERA. In the
final 25 games, the bullpen was 2-6 with a 4.15 ERA. By comparison, Oakland’s
bullpen was 6-3 with a 3.14 ERA in the final 25 games.

Right-hander Mike Adams, the Rangers’ prime setup man, was ineffective and
eventually unavailable because of a nerve condition that will require surgery.
Right-hander Alexi Ogando had intermittent biceps soreness that contributed to
seven runs allowed in his final nine innings.

Washington apparently lost confidence in rookie left-hander Robbie Ross,
using starter Derek Holland in a vital relief spot in each of the final two
games.

Even Joe Nathan, the rock all year, faltered. He had two blown saves in his
last six chances. Before that, he had only one blown save in 34 chances.

Right-hander Koji Uehara was, by far, the most effective reliever at the
finish. Uehara was “fresh,” Washington said, after spending about 10 weeks on
the disabled list because of a strained shoulder muscle. Uehara’s success and
the stretch struggles of others should make the Rangers consider the value of
in-season breaks for each reliever next summer.

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